Friday 3 August 2012 11.57 EDT
First published on Friday 3 August 2012 11.57 EDT

The riots last summer seemed to come as a shock to the country. The fast-developing situations that engulfed many parts of the UK were spoken about as if they'd burst out of nowhere. But looking back, it's clear to me that the ingredients for that explosion had been simmering away for years.

Unemployment has been cited as an important cause of the riots. In fact, 79% of rioters, and the same proportion of the general public, believed this to be case in polls undertaken by the Guardian and the LSE as part of their Reading the Riots research. This is no real surprise with long-term unemployment at its highest since 1995. The important thing to take note of from the Guardian's data is that, in reality, the issues discussed in the context of the riots were the usual line up of problems that consistently prevent people from gaining and sustaining employment. These issues were just given more exposure for a couple of weeks a year ago.

The majority of the rioters were of working age but not working and evidence suggests many faced barriers to gaining employment such as previous convictions. Some 70% of the rioters who responded to the Reading the Riots survey had previously been arrested. Of those brought before the courts, 76% had a previous conviction and 40% had five convictions or more. This is a significantly higher percentage than the working population as a whole, but not so different from the typical profile of someone convicted in court at any other time of the year. Many of those convicted were already trapped in a cycle of re-offending, the riots were just a place and time where that became very apparent.

Whilst some of the figures I've mentioned might seem high, they're really not so unusual. For 11 years, Business in the Community has been engaging businesses to support disadvantaged groups into employment through the Ready for Work programme. Of the people who we take through this voluntary programme of training, work placements and post-placement support, each one will have on average four barriers to gaining work. These barriers may include experiences of homelessness or the care system, a history of mental health problems or substance misuse or, as I mentioned, a previous criminal conviction. None of the 2,500 people who have gained work as a result of the Ready for Work programme are the same but what they all are is extremely employable.

I recently spoke to one of our programme participants – a 30 year old man from south London who had been homeless for two years. After being convicted of his first criminal offence, he was spurred on to make a change in his life and he has now taken part in training and a completed a work placement with a leading business. Having experienced similar disenfranchisement to the rioters, he told me that feeling 'part of something' would have helped to prevent the riots:

"There are no opportunities out there. This opportunity is one in a million. People want to feel part of something that makes them feel good. For me, Ready for Work is the first time in my life that I feel part of something. For other people, the riots offered that."

We know that jobs can be hard to find (and keep) when you face some of these challenges. But we also know that employment offers a route out of social exclusion, providing the skills, confidence and, importantly, the income for people to stake their claim in society. A case in point is again with re-offending, where employment has been shown to reduce the likelihood of re-offending by 33-50%. Business can't close their doors to these groups – it may seem like an easy response, but it is definitely not the solution to problems that are not going away.

Businesses can and do play their part in helping people to overcome these barriers by offering support, by changing policies and perceptions, and crucially by offering jobs. Carillion are a great example of this, having just celebrated the milestone of supporting 200 people into employment. The company benefits from a dedicated, diverse workforce from their own local community. Our research shows that 72% of employee volunteers involved in Ready for Work report increased job satisfaction, 62% report increased commitment to the company, and 91% feel that it increased their relationship building skills.

But there are many more businesses out there though that are not yet involved. By actively seeking to support disadvantaged groups into work, business can make a tangible, long-term difference to people's lives and their own company too. There is support out there to help companies to do this.

A year on from the riots, discussions amongst business leaders (from multinationals to SMEs) continue to rage on about youth unemployment and a lost generation. It's time to get practical and start to make changes. Never mind your moral position on the riots, those who were involved can be valuable employees given the right opportunities and support. If businesses continue to isolate these groups from their workforce, refusing to give them an economic alternative, then the riots will happen again.

Until the playing field is levelled and people facing these kinds of challenges have the same access to employment as anybody else, a high price is paid both by business and society.